Method and System for Processing Dictated Information

ABSTRACT

A method and a system for processing dictated information into a dynamic form are disclosed. The method comprises presenting an image ( 3 ) belonging to an image category to a user, dictating a first section of speech associated with the image category, retrieving an electronic document having a previously defined document structure ( 4 ) associated with the first section of speech, thus associating the document structure ( 4 ) with the image ( 3 ), wherein the document structure comprises at least one text field, presenting at least a part of the electronic document having the document structure ( 4 ) on a presenting unit ( 5 ), dictating a second section of speech and processing the second section of speech in a speech recognition engine ( 6 ) into dictated text and associating the dictated text with the text field.

This invention pertains in general to the field of document creation through speech recognition. More particularly the invention relates to a method and a system for processing dictated information into a dynamic form, thus increasing recognition accuracy (learning or adaptation) based on the dictated form, and even more particularly to link document contents to a general relational database.

Speech recognition systems are today becoming increasingly effective and are well used within a plurality of industries. Speech recognition (SR) is the process by which an acoustic signal received by a microphone is converted to a document, comprising a set of words, by a computer. These recognized words may then be used in a variety of applications for different purposes. The automatic speech recognition systems, which convert speech into text, result in cost-efficient report creation and high transcription productivity.

The fact that these reports are treasures of information, which is very difficult and error prone to retrieve, increases the need for processing the information in a way that makes it easy to collect beneficial information.

It is known that the main method of dictating a report is currently dictation of plain text. This requires the user to know the structure of the document he wants to dictate and use full, grammatically and semantically correct sentences. From a speech recognition point of view, plain text dictation is straight forward, yet certain improvements cannot be realized since the Speech recognition (SR) engine cannot make any interference reliably as to the structure of the report.

Another method for dictation is form filling, which takes templates to an extreme. According to this method, most commonly used reports are transformed to a form, so that users know exactly what to dictate where. This also makes it easier to extract information from the report, since the report form is known to the user. While this is ok in “commonly used” reports, it either doesn't address less common cases, or it becomes so unwieldy to cover all possibilities that it is impractical.

From a speech recognition point of view, form filling dictation may improve the accuracy, since the context and grammars can be fine-tuned to individual fields. But this accuracy comes at the cost of development complexity, since the forms are usually determined at the customer site, which requires clever algorithms and/or easy-to-use tools to transform the form to a format that can be used by the SR engine and the SR application.

Several ideas of improving the method of dictating and processing the reports have been proposed over the last few years. One example has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,813,603 which discloses a system and a method for user controlled insertion of standardized text in user selected fields while dictating text entries for completing a form.

It is also known that the information in a commonly used report, such as a medical report, is heavily formatted and has little or no structure for automatic processing, which makes it very difficult to collect information from completed reports that might be beneficial, such as prescribed medications, number of diagnosis of a certain condition etc. The completed report is also billed (coded) according to its content, which also is very difficult to achieve through parsing the report alone.

One problem is that recognized text is not easy to process. For this purpose there are expensive and error-prone tools such as coding tools, but these are not optimal. Another problem is the structure of the reports. Guidelines for dictating reports are usually determined centrally and the authors do not always hold to these guidelines when dictating. Additionally, each author has his/her own dictation style. Usually authors use the same report structure and even the same phrases. Some authors dictate the same things over and over again. They may also forget to dictate or address some points that are required.

In the field of health care there are also privacy concerns since the documents, medical reports, are full of private health information which needs to be protected, both ethically and legally.

Hence, an improved method for processing dictated information would be advantageous.

Accordingly, the present invention preferably seeks to mitigate, alleviate or eliminate one or more of the above-identified deficiencies in the art and disadvantages singly or in any combination and solves at least one of the above mentioned problems, at least partly, by providing a method and a system that makes it possible to process dictated information into a dynamic form and links the dictated information in the dynamic form to an external database, according to the appended patent claims.

The invention enables providing a method for creating a document report where all relevant data is marked and linked to an external database. The system according to the invention offers a report template which contains building blocks that are automatically created by a voice macro. The voice macro defines work-type fields that are to be filled by an author, so that the author doesn't forget what to dictate or to fill into the fields since he/she can see them. Relevant building blocks of such a report are automatically inserted, for instance, once the author indicates that he/she wants to dictate a chest x-ray of a patient. These blocks also contain markers that may be used to create distinct nodes in a document once the document is finished. The nodes are created by a general markup language, such as the Extended Markup Language (xml). In this way, specific parts of the document may be unmistakably mapped to an external database, whereby no parsing or coding is needed.

According to one aspect of the invention, a method for processing dictated information into a dynamic form is provided. The method comprises presenting an image, belonging to an image category, to a user. The method further comprises dictating a first section of speech associated with the image category, retrieving an electronic document having a previously defined document structure associated with the first section of speech, thus associating the document structure with the image, wherein the document structure comprises at least one text field, presenting at least a part of the electronic document having the document structure on a presenting unit, dictating a second section of speech and processing the second section of speech in a speech recognition engine into dictated text, and associating the dictated text with the text field.

According to another aspect of the invention, a system for processing dictated information into a dynamic form is provided. The system comprises means for presenting an image, belonging to an image category, to a user. The system further comprises means for dictating a first section of speech associated with the image category, retrieving an electronic document having a previously defined document structure associated with the first section of speech, thus associating the document structure with the image, wherein the document structure comprises at least one text field. Moreover, the system comprises a presenting unit for presenting at least a part of the electronic document having the document structure, means for dictating a second section of speech, a speech recognition engine for processing the said second section of speech into dictated text and means for associating the dictated text with the text field.

The present invention has for instance the advantage over the prior art that in a document, created through SR, all relevant data can be marked and linked to an external database.

In addition, the same approach may also decouple the order and structure of the document sections from the content. The author may dictate in any order he likes, using alternative key words if he wishes, and the final document may still look uniform.

These and other aspects, features and advantages of which the invention is capable of will be apparent and elucidated from the following description of embodiments of the present invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram in the form of a flowchart showing a dictation chain according to the invention.

The following description focuses on an example of the present invention applicable to processing dictated information in a medical case, i.e. in the non-limiting example an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)-examination, into a dynamic form and more particularly to link the dictated information in the dynamic form to an external database. However, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this application but can be applied to many other chains of dictation, such as legal and insurance cases.

It will be understood that the figures are merely schematic. A dictation chain according to the invention is shown in FIG. 1. The chain starts with that an author 2, in this case a doctor, receives an image 3, in this case an image created by an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) modality during an MRI-examination, for instance of the head of a patient. The image may also be derived from other medical image modalities, such as Computer Tomography (CT) or Ultrasound machines. The doctor studies this image, for instance on a display of a medical workstation. Then, the doctor dictates a voice macro “MRI-report” which is sent to a template database (not shown). The voice macro is for instance recorded as an acoustic signal received via a microphone in a SR engine and an SR application run on the medical workstation, or another computer, which for instance is distributed in a network, which is accessible to the doctor for dictation. The acoustic signal is treated by the SR engine and is converted to a computer command corresponding to the acoustic voice macro. In this example, the voice macro indicates that a report template 4 for MRI examination shall be used. The template 4 is requested from a template database (not shown). The report template 4 is then retrieved and received from the template database and presented on a screen 5, for instance the screen of the above-mentioned medical workstation. When the template 4 for MRI examination is displayed on screen 5, the doctor dictates relevant information such as plain text or other voice macros into the report template 4. During dictation, the dictated information is continuously sent to a speech recognition engine 6 where it is processed. The speech recognition engine 6 may also be used for the above-mentioned SR of the voice macro. The finalized report 7 and the associated image 3 is linked to each other and stored in a database 8, which then may be committed to a electronic patient record (EPR), for instance as part of a Hospital Information System (HIS).

Now an illustrative example for the above-described process is given. The resulting text in the report template may be as follows:

Clinical Statement: [dictate clinical statement here]

History: The study was compared to a prior study dated [dictate previous study date here]

Findings: [dictate medical findings here]

Impression: [dictate impression gained from the study]

Medication: [list prescribed medication]

The bold text is entered automatically from the template 4, and the italic texts, between the brackets, are work-type fields to be filled by the doctor by dictation.

In general, the SR engine uses the whole radiology context (several tens of thousands of words and associated statistical models) for recognition in each field. The recognition accuracy of a computer system is higher, the more specific the text being dictated is. This is also true for a human listener, but since this is done without any effort, it is not noticeably. As an example, if a person is talking about a baseball game he has been to last weekend, he is not likely to use words such as “mammography” or “fibrocystic”. But he can switch the topic eventually and still it is possible to follow what he is saying, especially if it is known that he is a doctor and is talking about some rare condition that he has identified.

In a method, e.g. implemented in software, this problem is addressed through targeted adaptation ConTexts. A ConText can be defined as a set of data that is specific to a topic, i.e. radiology, and contains a population of words (specialized lexicons and statistical language models) that are most likely to be found in a radiology report, and a complex statistical model of likelihood how these words can be used. A so-called SubConText (a subset of large lexicon and statistical language models) may also be created. These SubContexts may be switched accurately and quickly on the fly, depending on the place in the report. This is automatic in a report according to the embodiment of the invention whose building blocks have predefined work-type fields. For instance, if the field is called “measurements:” it is most likely that digits, numbers, units and type of measurement terms is dictated. The ConText is optimized and the recognition rate is increased significantly. Since the software knows what the doctor is dictating in this particular field, it doesn't have to use complex guessing algorithms. In some fields where the ConText is even more limited, e.g. date fields, the SR engine can switch to the SubConText or grammar for this field and the SR accuracy will rise drastically.

The work type fields, which are defined by voice macros, contains markers that may be used to create distinct nodes in an xml document, once the report is finished, so that no parsing is required. In this way, the specific parts may be unmistakably mapped to an external database, including but not limited to electronic patient records. The dictated text contained in a medication work type field is for instance:

Medication: [ Medication A Medication B Medication C ] This information is exported as text to a specified xml code and the markers become nodes in this code. Such that the information in the medication field becomes:

<?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“ISO-8859-1” ?> - <!--  Copyright (c) 2005 Philips Austria GmbH, PSP --> - <ORM_O01 xmlns:assume=“assumptions for translation” assume:version=“v23”> - <ORM_O01.PIDPD1NTEPV1PV2IN1IN2IN3GT1AL1> - <MID> - <MID.1> Medication A <\MID.1> - <MID.2> Medication B <\MID.1> - <MID.3> Medication C <\MID.1> - <\MID> ... In addition, the same approach may also decouple the order and structure of the document sections from the content. The doctors may dictate in any order they like, using alternative key words if they wish, and the end document may still look uniform. Since the fields are identified explicitly in the SR application, in a post-processing step, the order of the dictation may be changed, e.g. the doctor dictates a comparison date first, then his findings, whereupon he realizes that he forgot a clinical statement and dictates that clinical statement.

In another embodiment the voice macros are defined such that they may be executed in any order possible. In this way the doctor may dictate in any order he/she likes but during delivery an external tool will re-sort the fields and reformat them to be in a desired order and format, for instance previously defined by e.g. the hospital. The following example shows how the report may look like at every step of the method.

In the first step the doctor dictates the voice macro “Insert history” then the doctor dictates “twenty oh nine two thousand and four”

The report looks like:

History: Comparison was made to a previous study dated [20.09.2004] Further on the doctor dictates the voice macro “Insert Findings” and the report looks like:

History: Comparison was made to a previous study dated [20.09.2004] Findings:[...] The doctor then dictates the findings and the report looks like:

History: Comparison was made to a previous study dated [20.09.2004] Findings:[ There is a focal area of heterogeneous of soft tissue ...] Then he wants to dictate his clinical statement and dictates the voice macro “Insert clinical statement” and his statement and the report looks like:

History: Comparison was made to a previous study dated [20.09.2004] Findings:[ There is a focal area of heterogeneous of soft tissue ...] Clinical statement:[pain above the right chest] He dictates another voice macro “Insert impression” and the report looks like:

History: Comparison was made to a previous study dated [20.09.2004] Findings:[ There is a focal area of heterogeneous of soft tissue ...] Clinical statement:[pain above the right chest] Impression: [...] He completes the impression field by dictating “category four mammo” and the report looks like:

History: Comparison was made to a previous study dated [20.09.2004] Findings:[ There is a focal area of heterogeneous of soft tissue ...] Clinical statement:[pain above the right chest] Impression:[category 4 - suspicious abnormality. Biopsy should be considered. Correlation with physical examination findings is recommended ...] Now, in a post processing step, the part about clinical statement can easily be moved to the beginning, where it makes more sense. The report becomes as follows:

Clinical statement:[pain above the right chest] History: Comparison was made to a previous study dated [20.09.2004] Findings:[ There is a focal area of heterogeneous of soft tissue ...] Impression: [category 4 - suspicious abnormality. Biopsy should be considered Correlation with physical examination findings is recommended ...]

This is a minor example, the building blocks of the text may be sorted in any way that is desired.

In another example of the invention one may expand or reduce the work type fields dynamically so that the complexity of the report form seen by the user is managed “as simple as possible, but not simpler”.

The doctor receives for example a mammography image with a request to perform a mammography exam. The doctor executes a voice macro “mammography exam” and the screen fills with all the hints required to dictate such a report. Such as:

Clinical statement: [...] History: [...] Measurements: [...] Findings: [...]

Assume that the findings is a possible benign finding. The doctor executes a voice macro “category O mammo” which results in an insert of a predefined text into the report:

Findings: [ Category 0 mammogram = Need additional imaging evaluation. Note: Further correlation by means of a physical exam is recommended since some cancers may be obscured by dense fibrocystic changes and occasionally can be missed on fatty infiltrated breasts. Medication: [ (some medication name A) (some medication name B) etc ] ]

The report is automatically expanded with additional information related to the benign findings. In this way the doctor automatically knows what to look for and what medications are usually prescribed in this case. Similarly, depending on a condition, some fields may be removed from the report.

Applications and use of the above described system and method according to the invention are various and include exemplary fields such as any other medical speciality (including cardiology, oncology, emergency medicine etc.) but also legal fields, insurance and any other fields where documents are created from dictated speech (also through mobile devices such as PDAs or voice recorders, since they can also be fed to the recognition engine).

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to specific examples, it is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein. Rather, the invention is limited only by the accompanying claims and, other examples than the specific above are equally possible within the scope of these appended claims.

In the claims, the term “comprises/comprising” does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps. Furthermore, although individually listed, a plurality of means, elements or method steps may be implemented by e.g. a single unit or processor. Additionally, although individual features may be included in different claims, these may possibly advantageously be combined, and the inclusion in different claims does not imply that a combination of features is not feasible and/or advantageous. In addition, singular references do not exclude a plurality. The terms “a”, “an”, “first”, “second” etc do not preclude a plurality. Reference signs in the claims are provided merely as a clarifying example and shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims in any way. 

1. A method for processing dictated information into a dynamic form, the method comprising: presenting an image (3) belonging to an image category to a user; dictating a first section of speech associated with the image category; retrieving an electronic document having a previously defined document structure (4) associated with the first section of speech, thus associating the document structure (4) with the image (3), wherein the document structure comprises at least one text field; presenting at least a part of the electronic document having the document structure (4) on a presenting unit (5); dictating a second section of speech and processing the second section of speech in a speech recognition engine (6) into dictated text, and associating the dictated text with the text field.
 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising linking the image (3) to the electronic document having the document structure (4) and the dictated text, and storing the image (3) and the electronic document in a database (8).
 3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising identifying the text field with a marker; converting the marked text field into a code string; storing the code string together with the associated image in a database (8).
 4. The method according to claim 3, comprising automatically performing the identifying of the text field with a marker.
 5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the converting the marked text field to a code string comprises exporting the marked text field as text and converting the markers into nodes, created by a general markup language, in a document having the document structure (4).
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the electronic document having the previously defined document structure (4) comprises a set of data that is specific to a topic, such as radiology, and contains a population of words that are most likely to be found in a document based on that previously defined document structure (4), and using a statistical model of likelihood how these words are used.
 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the set of data comprises a subset of data specific for a specific text field in the previously defined document structure (4), and automatically switching between the subsets of data depending on a current text field selected by the user for dictation of text into the text field.
 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the previously defined document structure (4) comprises a plurality of the text fields, and the method comprises defining a voice macro associated with a specific text field of the text fields, such that the specific text field is chosen for dictating the second section of speech when the voice macro is dictated by the user.
 9. The method according to claim 8, comprising filling the plurality of text fields in any order possible.
 10. The method according to claim 1, comprising dynamically expanding or reducing the number of text fields presented to the user, thus managing the complexity of the previously defined document structure (4) seen by the user.
 11. A system for processing dictated information into a dynamic form, the system comprising: means for presenting an image (3) belonging to an image category to a user; means for dictating a first section of speech associated with the image category; means for retrieving an electronic document having a previously defined document structure (4) associated with the first section of speech, thus associating the document structure (4) with the image (3), wherein the document structure comprises at least one text field; a presenting unit (5) for presenting at least a part of the electronic document having the document structure (4); means for dictating a second section of speech; a speech recognition engine (6) for processing the second section of speech into dictated text; and means for associating the dictated text with the text field.
 12. A computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program for processing by a computer, the computer program being configured for processing dictated information into a dynamic form, the system comprising: a code segment for presenting an image (3) belonging to an image category to a user; a code segment for dictating a first section of speech associated with the image category; a code segment for retrieving an electronic document having a previously defined document structure (4) associated with the first section of speech, thus associating the document structure (4) with the image (3), wherein the document structure comprises at least one text field; a code segment for presenting at least a part of the electronic document having the document structure (4) on a presenting unit (5); a code segment for processing a dictation of a second section of speech in a speech recognition engine (6) into dictated text; and a code segment for associating the dictated text with said text field. 